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LYCIA
Country located in the southwest part of the Roman province of Asia (commonly known as Asia Minor), bounded on the northwest by Caria, on the north by Phrygia and Pisidia, on the northeast by Pamphylia, and on the west, south, and east by the Mediterranean Sea. The geography of the region combines rugged mountainous terrain with fertile valleys formed by the descent of several small rivers to the sea. The mountainous regions produce olives, grapes, and timber, while the valleys are responsible for the production of the area’s cultivated grains. At the mouths of the rivers are located the major seaports of the country. Two of these, Patara and Myra, are of interest to students of the NT.
Patara, located in southwest Lycia in the valley of the Xanthus River, was the seat of the oracle of Apollo. Acts 21:1 mentions it as the port where Paul, at the conclusion of his third missionary journey, boarded a ship sailing for Phoenicia (some manuscripts include here an additional stop at Myra). Myra, located in southeast Lycia, is mentioned in Acts 27:5-7 as the port where Paul and Julius, a Roman centurion, boarded an Alexandrian ship bound for Rome. When winds were from the west, it was the practice of Alexandrian grain ships headed for Italy to work north along the shore of Palestine and Syria and west along the southern coast of Asia Minor. This would make the ports of Lycia natural places for ships to harbor in preparation for the final leg of the trip to Italy.
The history of the region is tied closely to that of Asia Minor. Among all the peoples of western Asia Minor, Lycia was alone able to withstand the onslaught of the kings of Lydia. However, in 546 BC it was forced to submit to Persian domination. With the invasion of Alexander the Great in 333 BC, Lycia came under the control of the Ptolemies (308–197 BC) and the Seleucids (197–189 BC). When the Romans defeated Antiochus III at Magnesia (189 BC), Lycia was given to Rhodes, an island off its western coast. Twenty years later Rome granted Lycia the status of an independent state. This status held until AD 43, when Emperor Claudius declared Lycia a Roman province. Under the provincial reorganization of Vespasian in AD 74, it was joined with Pamphylia.
First Maccabees 15:23 gives evidence of a sizable Jewish community in Lycia around 139 BC. The NT provides no evidence of Christians in this area. However, a letter from Lycia written in AD 312 to Emperor Maxim in opposition to Christianity indicates the presence of Christians in this region in the early centuries of the church.